Looking for someone to cheer for in the NBA playoffs?
Look no further.
Watch my latest video commentary or read below:
It’s hard not to pull for the Hornets in the NBA Playoffs.
But I might’ve found someone else to pull for harder.
P.J. Brown became a fan favorite here in Oklahoma City during the Hornets temporary relocation. The veteran big man scored the very first basket in the very NBA game at the Ford Center. He was all class. He signed autographs. He posed for pictures. He was the consummate professional.
And he was even though his heart was hurting. Brown in a native of Louisiana. Born and raised and educated there. It is his home, and when Hurricane Katrina roared into New Orleans, he lost not only a house but also a home.
He moved to Oklahoma City, his family to Houston.
It was a mess.
Then after a season in OKC, the Hornets traded Brown to the Bulls. It was another blow. Brown, after all, had talked about retiring a Hornet.
He spent two not-so-happy seasons in Chicago, and when he became an unrestricted free agent at the end of last season, the Bulls didn’t re-sign him. Trouble was, no one else signed him either.
Brown spent the first half of the season out of basketball — no doubt a tough pill after 14 years in the NBA — but when the All-Star Game rolled into New Orleans, Brown threw his support behind it. And it just so happened that he ran into Ray Allen and Paul Pierce that weekend. The Celtic stars told Brown that they wanted him in Boston.
Not long after, Brown became a Celtic.
He is a reserve, of course, playing third or maybe even fourth fiddle to the Allen, Pierce and Kevin Garnett. And yet, Brown has a chance to fulfill a dream.
He has never won an NBA title — 15 seasons, 0 titles.
No one deserves to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy more than P.J. Brown. Sure, it’d be great to see the Hornets win the title, but no one would appreciate it more than Brown.
He’s long been a consummate professional. For once, he should be a world champion.